Hurray for the Spectrum. It was my first 'real computer' after owning an Atari VCS for a few years, there was something about the atmosphere and the colour clashing graphics in those ZX games that really captured the young imaginations of us 80's kids.:)
I'm another one who learned the basics of coding on a spectrum (then via another classic the Amiga and onto PC).
So much love for that old piece of hardware and the magazines (especially Crash) were a big part of the 'scene'. I still remember Driller first appearing on the Spectrum and thinking "the future had arrived";)
For me.. pretty much YES. HD is needed NOW that I have used it for a while. It's similar to going back to 8 bit from an Amiga it makes that much difference to my discerning eyes!;)
For the next person? It depends, some will consider it vital some won't care a bit.
For Games themselves? No. A good game is a good game even if on a tiny LCD (DS).
However resolution is always important and IF the game can be clearer and more detailed then great.
HD is here to stay and is only going to become more common. And it's not before time.
Dead Rising ( http://sharpfish.realityfakers.com/?p=85 ) on the Xbox 360 showed us that HD can make a big difference (even if it was only to counter a QA mistake on Capcom's part which could have been avoided). Having played the game on a SD and HD set it's like it's running on a different system alltogether!
Double edged sword. The reason we had great browsers like Firefox (and others) is to make up for the poor IE flaws and their dominance. If things slip then we end up with a new "leader" who takes the oppurtunity to rest on their laurels rather than fighting as the underdog to outdo "the man".
In other words firefox could go to shit eventually.
Now, I use firefox as my main browser but it's not perfect. If MS fix up IE7 and add in those FF enhancements (Tabbed browsing being the main one for me) then maybe people will start reverting. Especially because you don't have problems on bank websites or certain rendering with IE. Of course IE doesn't always cope that well with standard web pages either and it's rendering mistakes have become almost standard now to web developers.
Well, outsourced work or not... Intel is getting really agressive again with their chip development. Starting with the Core2Duo (a great product) and making moves like this means they are obviously intent on not letting AMD take their glory again any time soon.
As for the other issue of where the chips are being developed, who cares... the desktopz uzas gotta have their 8 core;)
This is great news for smaller developers (of which I am one). If we could take our native windows apps and convert them with little hassle to work on a Mac then there will be more games on the mac. Simple!:)
..for a while. Good games were good games for the time. It was part of the experience, your age, the technology. We remember them as classics and we remember them fondly (the same as old records or TV shows). Mechanically some of them still stand up as "fun" today but many fail.
Especially irksome is the modern condition of blaming technology as I discussed in my article comparing old and new games; "don't blame 3D" which can be found here: http://sharpfish.realityfakers.com/?p=47 if anyone can be bothered;)
The problem is if a modern game is rubbish, it's easy to blame 3D (or the technology) and assume that the 2D (or old tech version) was inherently better because it lacked bells and whistles... in reality it is just because that older game made better use of the technology available at the time and was still a good game with good gameplay (the most vital aspect).
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Hurray for the Spectrum. It was my first 'real computer' after owning an Atari VCS for a few years, there was something about the atmosphere and the colour clashing graphics in those ZX games that really captured the young imaginations of us 80's kids. :)
;)
I'm another one who learned the basics of coding on a spectrum (then via another classic the Amiga and onto PC).
So much love for that old piece of hardware and the magazines (especially Crash) were a big part of the 'scene'. I still remember Driller first appearing on the Spectrum and thinking "the future had arrived"
For me.. pretty much YES. HD is needed NOW that I have used it for a while. It's similar to going back to 8 bit from an Amiga it makes that much difference to my discerning eyes! ;)
For the next person? It depends, some will consider it vital some won't care a bit.
For Games themselves? No. A good game is a good game even if on a tiny LCD (DS).
However resolution is always important and IF the game can be clearer and more detailed then great.
HD is here to stay and is only going to become more common. And it's not before time.
Dead Rising ( http://sharpfish.realityfakers.com/?p=85 ) on the Xbox 360 showed us that HD can make a big difference (even if it was only to counter a QA mistake on Capcom's part which could have been avoided). Having played the game on a SD and HD set it's like it's running on a different system alltogether!
Double edged sword. The reason we had great browsers like Firefox (and others) is to make up for the poor IE flaws and their dominance. If things slip then we end up with a new "leader" who takes the oppurtunity to rest on their laurels rather than fighting as the underdog to outdo "the man". In other words firefox could go to shit eventually. Now, I use firefox as my main browser but it's not perfect. If MS fix up IE7 and add in those FF enhancements (Tabbed browsing being the main one for me) then maybe people will start reverting. Especially because you don't have problems on bank websites or certain rendering with IE. Of course IE doesn't always cope that well with standard web pages either and it's rendering mistakes have become almost standard now to web developers.
Well, outsourced work or not... Intel is getting really agressive again with their chip development. Starting with the Core2Duo (a great product) and making moves like this means they are obviously intent on not letting AMD take their glory again any time soon.
;)
As for the other issue of where the chips are being developed, who cares... the desktopz uzas gotta have their 8 core
This is great news for smaller developers (of which I am one). If we could take our native windows apps and convert them with little hassle to work on a Mac then there will be more games on the mac. Simple! :)
..for a while. Good games were good games for the time. It was part of the experience, your age, the technology. We remember them as classics and we remember them fondly (the same as old records or TV shows). Mechanically some of them still stand up as "fun" today but many fail. Especially irksome is the modern condition of blaming technology as I discussed in my article comparing old and new games; "don't blame 3D" which can be found here: http://sharpfish.realityfakers.com/?p=47 if anyone can be bothered ;)
The problem is if a modern game is rubbish, it's easy to blame 3D (or the technology) and assume that the 2D (or old tech version) was inherently better because it lacked bells and whistles... in reality it is just because that older game made better use of the technology available at the time and was still a good game with good gameplay (the most vital aspect).